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Option A / Option B

Thought I'd do one of these again because I've always enjoyed your responses and I enjoy writing these as well. They always seem to stimulate conversation on the blog as well.

For those of you new to the game, I give Scott two options, A or B, and ask him to pick his favourite. It's crisp and clean with no caffeine!

Number 1

Which Abandoned Storyline would have had the best chance of getting over?

Option A

Jeff Jarrett proclaims to be a great country singer, but all his vocals are actually performed by his Roadie. Roadie gets jealous and we have a feud

Or

Option B

David Flair and Stacy Keibler are engaged and Stacy is pregnant. However, David isn't the father. It eventually comes to light that the father is Vince Russo!

Definitely gotta go with the Roadie storyline, because that one really was getting over before it was abandoned. There was a really good buzz around that storyline for a while.

Number 2

What would have made a better ending to Wrestlemania IX?

Option A

Bret slays the monster clean with the Sharpshooter

Or

Option B

The Bret Vs Yokozuna match goes at it did but it happens earlier in the card. Hogan and Beefcake take on Money Inc in the final match and go over clean to send the fans home happy.

I was fine with either scenario in B, actually. I had already figured on the Hogan/Beefcake team winning the tag titles and Yoko winning the World title, so I’d go B.

Number 3

Who had the better "Boss and Lackey" chemistry?

Option A

Ted Dibiase and Virgil

Or

Raven and Stevie Richards

I’d say A here, because Raven and Richards actually had a more nebulously defined relationship, whereas Virgil was explicitly Dibiase’s paid manservant.

Number 4

What would have been a better progression during and after Starcade 98?

Option A

Nash wins at Starcade but does a strong heel turn while doing so, to try and get some sympathy on Goldberg. Fingerpoke never happens and Hogan turns face and puts Nash over at Super Brawl. Goldberg has to chase until Spring Stampede where he finally wins the title back from Nash and they do the rubber match at Bash at the Beach

Or

Option B

Goldberg goes over Nash clean and continues his title reign. Meanwhile, Wrath beats Bret Hart on the same show for the US Title. You have neither guy do a job and then have them face each other at Bash at the Beach and have Wrath end the streak (Goldberg would have had the belt for a year at this point, so fans would probably be ready for it)

I’m still of the opinion that they never should have ended the streak, period, so given those two choices I’d go with A because I’d rather not have seen Wrath end it. Plus Goldberg really should have regained the title from Nash in real life anyway.

Number 5

As a winner of the 1999 King of the Ring instead of Mr Ass

Option A

Hardcore Holly

Or

Option B

Big Show

Big Show was already ruined by then. Mr. Ass was fine as a winner, but the followup was terrible and killed it. Hardcore Holly could have been fun, so I’ll go with him.

Number 6

Instead of Big Show winning the WWF Title at the 1999 Survivor Series, the title is won by

Option A

Mick Foley

Or

Option B

Test

Test, because in retrospect it would have paid off the Steph turn and HHH’s title win much better.

Number 7

Triple H Victim from 2002 that could have benefitted business the most by winning the big match

Option A

Booker T

Or

Option B

Rob Van Dam

RVD by far. No one was arguing that Booker was going to turn business around, but the point has always been that if HHH was going to use THAT particular storyline to build up the match, he should have laid down for him to pay it off. Rob, on the other hand, was a big star and needed to have the trigger pulled at some point.

Number 8

Who would have made a better WWF World Champion at their peak overness

Option A

Razor Ramon

Or

Option B

Mr. Perfect

Ramon, no question. Perfect was always a midcard guy in the WWF and I don’t think there was ever a viable time when he could have been champion outside of maybe the Hogan run in 1990. But even then business tanked for that feud. Razor, on the other hand, could have taken Diesel’s place in 94 as champion no questions asked.

Number 9

Which wrestler and manager pairing would have had the most success in a major league promotion in 2000?

Option A

CW Anderson managed by Arn Anderson

Or

Steve Corino managed by Jim Cornette

Arn never really worked as a mouthpiece for someone else. Go with Cornette.

RVD was mixed emotions for me. It started with being pissed like you in 01-02. Than as 03-05 happened and the injuries (to himself and others) piled up I turned into "maybe they were right." Than he just immediately fucked up in his 06 title run.

They could have saved Mr. Ass in 99 by having him take over as leader of a rebuilding DX. Than he wins King of the Ring. Than he feuds with Triple H, leading to a cage match at Summerslam 99 that he loses.

The main event was short cut because Chavo really did injure his leg (You can see it here : https://twitter.com/luchablog/status/616427956970356736 ). Otherwise good show, El Patron is a true star, Hernandez claiming that dragons are not real might be the biggest heel move possible in the LU universe and I actually enjoy Texano as a babyface a lot more.

Also Konan being unimpressed by teleporting zombies is acutally pretty funny.

I think Mr Ass was fine in 99. Billy Gunn was never going to be more than British Bulldog/Bossman levels on the card, the KotR win was a quick way of building up momentum to feed him to the freshly turned star.

Problem is, he dropped the belt to Goldberg in July and then did two celebrity matches to main event the next two PPVs (which shunted Goldberg down the card), then did the whole clusterfuck Warrior match in October (which at least didn't main event the show). He was then gone from November to January because he was "running for President"

All that crap was pushed to overshadow whatever Goldberg was doing at the time.

Yeah it's like Jeff Hardy being ridiculously popular but never getting a decent run, while I'm not a fan, confused me but then it turns out he was not taking the hint on his wellness suspensions, so I can see why they wouldn't go all in on him.

I dont know if Mr Ass was ever going to get over, but making his first singles feud against The Rock was NEVER going to work. Although no complaints from me, because it gave us the Rock talking to God promo.

Yup. Hogan knew that there'd be pressure to do the right thing and drop the belt to Goldberg, so he started planning early to do it, sabotage Goldberg's run and then turn around and say "listen, brother, this whole Goldberg cat isn't working out on top. I know it, you know it. Why don't we give the Hulkster another run and see how it goes?"

In fairness, at least Hogan had angles and storylines going on at that time. What did Goldberg have to offer aside from the Streak? You can argue card positioning, I guess, but let's not pretend that any Goldberg match in 1998 wasn't built around some heel goof saying "I'm gonna be the man to beat Goldberg!" for 4 weeks. Inspiring stuff.

In hindsight, X-Pac should have won the 1999 KOTR. He was getting massively over as part of the tag team with Kane and they could have used the win to get him into the title picture once Hunter got the belt.

I dunno. I know 1998 was profitable year for WCW, but I thought the whole 'Wolfpac' thing was super lame, and having a guy like Sting join the Wolfpac after warring with the nWo for 2 years was a slap in the face to logic and consistency. Also, there was never a payoff to any of it. After Starrcade '97, they were clearly lost and had no new directions to go in post-nWo. Their one idea had run its course and they couldn't figure out how to move on. Also, I hated Goldberg. So yeah, 1998 WCW didn't exactly set my world on fire.

I'm not sure you can quantify how much the Luger/Hogan title switch really hurt the buyrate. That's speculation, really. It could've made people MORE interested in the PPV.

You also have to remember Road Wild always took place on a Saturday, which is why it probably typically did a lower buyrate than other WCW PPVs. With that said, Road Wild 98 had the highest buyrate of any Road Wild PPV.

Well, that's part of the problem. WCW didn't know how to book Goldberg and didn't throw any legit contenders at him while he was champion outside of DDP and Sting (which they gave away on Nitro, no less). No wonder his angles were boring.

It's a shame Raven and Stevie never had their blow off match because Stevie was so over in early 97 it's crazy. Problem is Raven would have had to stay in ECW for at least another year because of all the intertwined booking that Paul was doing from 95-early 97. They had to rush the Dreamer win over Raven which could have been done IMO at WrestlePalooza 98 instead of 97, and Raven and Stevie could have had their match at the second PPV. Not to mention Raven and Sandman never truly had a blow off match. Raven won the barbed wire match and Sandman never got his big win/family reunited in a big, high profile blowoff match.

Also of note my fantasy booking totally eliminates the WWF feud because it's what killed ECW from a creative stand point.

Billy Gunn was never over though. The Outlaws were over. But you could have inserted literally anybody in Billy's spot and the results would have been the same. Road Dogg was the reason they were successful. That was the weird thing about DX. 3 out of the 5 members were over (Chyna, Road Dogg, and X-Pac), but they used the stable as a platform to push Mr. Ass and Triple H.

Agreed. Not saying it was his fault. But if I'm the booker, or producer, or whatever. And the bosses tell me, we have Goldberg vs. Konnan for the title, and Hogan in a tag match with Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman. Guess which match I would promote as my main event?

1. A without a doubt. Jarrett vs. Road Dogg, even in 1995, could have been a fun popcorn match.

2. I'd almost want to go with option C, where everything that happens happened - but it leads to Hogan turning heel for real. But to play fair, I choose B.

3. A. Virgil, pay.

4. Again, I'd rather see option C, where Hogan wins it back, turns babyface, and destroys Bret Hart in a match and then drops the title to Kevin Nash. But with the choices given, A.

5. I agree with Scott, Big Show jobbing to Austin on TV ruined him. Not even a title win in November saved him from his pathetic midcard status at that point. I didn't like Gunn winning, as I found heel Gunn to be boring. I'll go with A.

6. B. Big Show, even ruined, had some name value, but they never thought of him as a serious champion based on the Boss Man feud and midcard position the match received. Test winning the title in hindsight would have made no difference in the big scheme of getting Triple H over and the whole McMahon/Helmsley storyline. And you get a real onscreen heart ripping outside of that backstage promo.

7. B. Rob ... Van ... Dam ... The whole freaking Show. Maybe they were worried about his pothead status even back then, but I was begging them to shock us with RVD. Instead HBK won it and he was still part-time status when he did. Big waste that RVD couldn't have gotten that win. And seriously, Booker T should have had a one night regin in 2003, but yeah ...

8. I was thinking Perfect would have worked in the 1993 climate, or even 1992 if he had been active before November. Razor Ramon could have worked in 1994/95 too though. My original thought was B, I'm sticking with it.

9. A. If Arn could have been down with managing another fake Anderson. I couldn't stand Corino, and given the fact he never went anywhere outside ECW and punk promotions to my knowledge - I wouldn't put too much stock on him.

10. B. The other match was done a million times and I was never into those guys. DDP vs. Goldberg was a surprisingly good match with characters I cared about.

Stevie should have beaten Raven for the title at Barely Legal. Then Raven could have put Dreamer over at Wrestlepalooza and boom, you wrapped up two long-running stories. The Terry Funk thing was always a waste, imo.

The crazy thing was that Booker and Hunter had a rematch on RAW like 2 weeks later, which ended in a schmozz to set up that 6-man tag at Backlash. Are you telling me that they couldn't have Booker win at WM to pay off the FUCKING RACIST angle, and then drop the belt back 2 weeks later?

Yup, totally agree. As much as putting Funk over was important to Paul in terms of rewarding a legend for really helping put ECW on the map, it really damaged all the incredible intertwined booking he did for almost 2 years. What you have proposed does indeed clean up the loose ends that Raven had.

I think they should have plugged Goldberg into at least the Leno one though. Nash and Goldberg, who WCW TV really was building around as the biggest faces in mid-98, had almost nothing to do all summer

My favorite "Triple H is a douche" story is from 2003 when Rocky was going to lay down for Booker on a Raw before WrestleMania...but then found out Booker wasn't winning the title, so he jobbed instead to Hurricane.

Then the first Raw after Rocky leaves, Triple H attacked Hurricane for no reason & gave him like 3 pedigrees.

Apparently not. I'm shocked Triple H jobbed to Goldberg in September and was allowed to hold it until December, after basically burying him at SummerSlam. Triple H wasn't putting anybody over until six months after he really married Stephanine and then he was a little more relaxed in doing things.

The WWF feud itself didn't keep ECW alive financially, it was Vince that "loaned" or IMO bankrolled ECW from late 95 on.

But let's say ECW doesn't have Vince's money, nobody in the mid 90s broke even. WWF took its first loss in 95 and WCW never actually made money. Smoky Mountain went under. USWA went under. That's just the way the business was.

My fantasy rebook of WCW 1998:nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac feud throughout the spring and summer, culminating at WarGames, losing team must disband. nWo Wolfpac wins, nWo Hollywood is dead, and the Wolfpac moves forward simply referred to as "the Wolfpac." Continue to sell the red and black shirts, sure, but the nWo angle is essentially over.Sting, meanwhile, grants title shots to WCW loyalists throughout the year, including Bret Hart, DDP, Flair, Luger, The Giant (okay, "loyalist" is a stretch, but you get the idea), and ultimately undefeated U.S. Champion Goldberg. Sting defeats Goldberg and hands him his first loss, but losing to a strong face champion and franchise player Sting does little to hurt Goldberg, and now the "Streak" albatross is off his neck.

WW3- Hogan vs. Sting for the Title. Warrior is special guest ref, with the idea that he will stick it to Hogan and make sure we get a fair fight. Warrior pulls a HBk though and accidentally costs Sting the match. Goldberg wins the Battle Royal.Starrcade - Hogan vs. Goldberg, title vs. title, Goldberg goes over. Sting vs. Warrior in a grudge match on the undercard.

I personally would have had a strong Sting reign for most of 98 before transitioning the belt to a gradually more heel Bret and doing Bret/Goldberg at Starcade 98. You can then do Sting/Goldberg after that as your main summer match in 99.

In terms of ending the streak I always thought the logical thing was Goldberg to remain undefeated and then turn heel with the title in a "nobody can beat me kind of way" before dropping the belt to a smaller guy who out wrestles him (Benoit?). The other logical option if you wanted the albatross of his neck early was to have DDP do it with the diamond cutter out of nowhere at HH 98.

First of all - gunn winning gave us that awesome edge promo the next year when he told him if the best thing they can find for him to do a year after winning is going to wwf ny and eating a meatball sandwich.... So that alone made it worthwhile.

Those are fine suggestions, too. I question if they could have gotten the crowd to buy Goldberg as a heel at that point in time, and realistically WCW wasn't putting the belt on Benoit, certainly not at that point in time. I do think the money was in Hogan/Goldberg at Starrcade, no matter how you end up there.

Was holly doing the big shot stuff in 99 or 2000? For like a two week period I felt that he was nailing that gimmick and really could've gotten it over huge. Then they just stuck him with crash, who leeched the super heavyweight gimmick and took the wind out of it. I don't like holly but I have to say I thought he was ready to shoot up the card with the big shot stuff

I think it should have happened at the end of the barbed wire match then. Sandman drops the title, but gets his family back. It happened, him getting his family back, but it was kinda lost in the PPV anticipation shuffle.

Honestly the Raven/Sandman feud started to fizzle when Tyler had to go back to school.

Well obviously that is a money match as well but in my timeline, Hogan is well defeated by Sting and eventually makes his return as Hulk not Hollywood. That is not to say Hogan/Goldberg isn't still a/the money match.

I just think undefeated streaks are better broken when the guy is a heel (see Crimson in TNA for a surprisingly good example) - when it's a face it usually deflates the crowd - see Goldberg, Taker etc.

1. Both are equally bad....Per the question, Option B would have probably gotten over considering the times, but A would have been by far the better storyline....I dont remember The Roadie storyling getting over that huge.....I thought people were kind of lukewarm

2. Option A. Both are pretty bad scenarios, but I think either is probably no worse than what we got.

3. Dibiase and Virgil. I agree: it was clear - Virgil was a servant, and we all were waining on him to one day lose his sh*t on Dibiase

6. I was fine with Big Show winning. They could have booked his reign much better. THIS is what killed Show, not jobbing to Austin. I thought Option A....until I read Scott's observation. That would have worked perfectly. Test would have bombed as champ, but Option B would have worked, and left HHH-Foley @ Royal Rumble in tact.

7. Option A. I totally disagree that Booker was not going to turn business around. With the brand extension being what it was, Booker T. having the gold as a babyface would have definitely gotten over HUGE considering the storyline beforehand, and what would have been an epic pursuit on the part of Evolution to get it back. SummerSlam you could go Booker v. HHH or Booker v. Batista. OR, Booker vs. RVD for that matter. For comparison, look at RVD's 2005 reign - that didnt set the business on fire exactly did it?

8. Short term B. Long-term A.

9. Corino and Cornette. Both are 2 of the most painfully obnoxious old-school people in the business....and 2 of the biggest chickenshit heels as well. I never bought Corino as a good wrestler, so I wouldnt put a major title on him or anything, but CW Anderson's main hook was that he looked like Ole & Arn Anderson. That only has so much mileage.

The right guy won at Barely Legal....Funk wins, send all the fans home happy. The Sabu Barbed Wire match should have happened in May or June, and kept Funk's reign short, as opposed to the entire Summer. Then the WWE-ECW war has more heat.

About Goldberg, I would go with option A, but I disagree with Scott you have to at some point end the streak because if you keep it going too long when it eventually ends the bigger the disappointment. Of course with the knowledge the company is going to die anyway in 2 years, then you might as well keep the streak going until the last nitro.

Yeah I would agree. I'd say the same thing about a few others like Danny Doring, Nova, Doug Gilbert, and PG-13. Jerry Lynn LOOKS like an Indy wrestler for sure, but he could at one time wrestle like a big timer.

Some folks forget how popular Nash was and that the crowd was pretty split between he and Goldberg. But he obviously wasn't the right choice to end the streak. There was still money to be made with Goldberg/Sting, a Goldberg/Hogan rematch, and so on. I think I'd keep the belt on Goldberg a few more months and then have Bret Hart end the streak (you can still jumpstart that feud with the great steel plate segment).

Wrath being the one to end Goldberg's streak is a ridiculous idea. It can definitely be argued that Wrath's "streak" deserved more of a build than having Nash randomly beat him on Nitro one week, but having friggin' WRATH be the one to dethrone Goldberg? Just....no.

Eh, I think it could've worked if they'd stuck by Wrath's streak instead of Nash beating him. The Meltdown was getting BIG-TIME over at the time, and he was one of those groundswell type guys that was getting crowd support slowly but surely. By May or June (as the emailer suggested) WCW might have had a newly created superstar on their hands.

I like Perfect as a totally credible chickenshit heel transition champion for somebody. He had mad ring skills, pedigree, good heat & even better heat with the Genius as his manager.Definition of the perfect transitional champion.

That Tonight Show appearance where he challenged Austin was death. How nobody pulled Bischoff aside and said to him "Goldberg got over by being a silent badass, don't put him on a nationally televised talk show when you've never had Okerlund point a microphone his way" is amazing

1: A. Do I even need to explain why?2: B, I guess, but either one would have better than what we got.3: B, but I can't argue with A.4: A. I never had a problem with Nash ending the streak, it was everything after that was the issue.5: B, because it's not Holly. As someone mentioned below X-Pac really should have won it.6: A. Test was as green as a Sprite can back then and no one with a lame ass name like "Test" should hold the top title in a promotion.7: B. Booker was never world title material to me, and RVD was red hot at the time.8: A. What Scott said.9. B. CW was his generation's Michael Elgin.10: A was the better match, but that match got done so many times that it makes Cena-Orton seem like a fresh matchup, so B is the match I'd rather watch today.

You say that, but the crowd was into Gunn in late 98/early 99. They were clamouring for him to win the IC. So, of course, he jobbed to Shamrock clean as a sheet at RR 99, then got transitioned into the HC title picture.

I feel like early 1990 Perfect still wasn't as established as he'd be by the end of the year and I don't think anyone thought he ever had a real shot at Hogan. Hogan beat up tons of fat guys by that point. Some little guy like Perfect wasn't gonna do anything.